Orange Sky
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING MAY CONTAIN WORDS AND ACTIONS NOT SUITABLE FOR SOME. PLEASE BE ADVISED. Chapter 1. Flash Flash. Bang. Alakazam. Out of an Orange Colored Sky. "The song haunts me. I can't get it out of my head." Rax said, laying quietly on his gritty, bottom bunk of the uncleaned bunk bed. Rax was always an interesting character. He was medium height, his dark brown hair always cut down short. He was never an outstanding person. Not physically, anyway. But, he had an inept ability to survive, unlike the growing number of bodies that became landmarks for the people of the wastes. "You even listening?" Rax said, kicking the bottom of the mattress above him. From the top of the two beds peered a girl, in her mid-twenties. She was obviously tall, and her demeanor gave away that she was the bossy one of the pair. "Look here, Rax. We got a deal, alright? I give you ammo, a place to sleep, and some old-ass shit that I scavenge out of factories. You keep out the fucking mutants, find some food and water, and keep my little sister alive. Where the hell in that agreement does it say to talk about some shitty Pre-War music that some old man plays on some Vegas Radio Station?" Rax laughed, turning around in his bed. "It doesn't. Mostly because it's a not a written agreement, Kat. It's a verbal agreement. As a matter of fact, do you even know how to write?" "Yes, I do. I'm not as stupid as every caveman is this shithole of a wasteland." Kat said. She disappeared from Rax's view. "Just be thankful I'm not, or you'd either be a junkie fiend, or lashed up to a cross like every asshole who comes in contact with one of those horny bulls across the river." Horny bulls... Rax thought for a second. He found her sense of humor dry, and disturbing to a point. All he could do (other than make Kat even angrier, which would keep him up all night with her yelling) was try and rest until morning. CLANK! CLANK CLANK! The sounds of ripping metal echoed through the small, rugged shelter. Rax awoke with a jump, and before he could speak, Kat covered his mouth, sitting next to him. She raised a finger up to her lips, pointed to another room, and nodded, sneaking towards it. Rax, too startled to move, noticed movement through the holes in the walls of the makeshift house The figure blackened many of the holes at once, alerting him that the being outside was much larger than a regular person. Kat emerged from the other room, holding a young girl in her arms, about nine or ten years of age. She was the same as Kat in almost every way a sibling could be, but she seemed malnourished, tired and weak. Kat threw Rax a gun. It was similar to a sniper rifle, but it was more fine-tuned. It was large, almost as big as him, and half his weight. He pulled out the clip, and was discouraged when he saw there was only one bullet left. Realizing that he had to swallow his pride, he climbed to the top of the fort. "Stella!" Kat whispered, holding the girl. "Stay here. You have to stay right here." She grabbed a large metal instrument, most likely a tire iron or baton, and scrambled out of a window on the side of the house. Grunts and wails came out of the creatures mouth. It was a blue, hulking figure that wore a cracked stealth-boy on it's wrist. It had properties similar to that of a human, but it was larger. Much larger. It had no hair, chipped and rotten teeth, and scars that dug into it's face. It looked to the top of the building when it heard Rax, yelling down at it from up above."Hey! Ugly bastard. The hell do you think you're doing?!" Rax yelled, gripping the gun. "GRAH!" It yelled. "I... Must find food! Humans have meat, bones to snack on!" "The hell?! What are you, some kind of fairy-tale dragon?" Rax said, stepping back a little. Kat screamed as she lept forward, swinging the blunt object with all her might at the back of the Creature's leg. He collapsed, falling on one knee as he wailed. "Hey!" She screamed. "Do it! Shoot this fucker!" Rax aimed at the abomination's head, sending the bullet out with a loud, deafening bang. Flash. In an instant, the creature had been vanquished. Blood splayed in every direction, hitting Kat in the eye, painting the metal walls a crimson red, and even hitting Rax on top of the roof. He threw down the gun. *** "What the hell was that?!" Rax asked, pacing back and forth inside the makeshift cabin. "What?" Kat replied. "That thing! What the fuck was it?!" Rax yelled. "A mutant. What, you grow up in a vault your whole damn life?" "I've seen mutants, mutants aren't blue." "Well yeah. Those are... uh.... 'Nightstalkers' then." "No, no, no. Nightstalkers are those coyote... lizard... things. What in fuck's name was that blue thing?!" "Calm the hell down. Right now. I don't know the details, but I think they're called 'Nightkin' or something like that. Nothing to fret over. Rax sat down on the bed, gripping his hair. If what he knew was only the start of the wasteland, how would he survive the endless days of heat in the Mojave? Chapter 2. Bang Rax and Kat continued to walk the vast wastes, as Stella followed the two hesitantly. After about an hour of stumbling around large mounds of sand and dust, the three came across a broken down, wooden-screen door that sat in front of what seemed to be a cave. It was obviously built sloppily, and seemed to be put together hastily. Kat approached the door, pressing up against it when she came close enough. "What are you doing? We don't have time for this." Rax said, throwing his arms up impatiently. "Shut it." Kat replied, still focused on the door. Before Rax could retaliate, a loud "Clack" came from the door. Kat had forced the lock without thinking. Fortunately, the door opened without any trouble. As they entered the cave, Rax could see a glimmering metal object down the small corridor that streched through the cave. He walked towards it, not paying attention the Kat or Stella (not that he would have in the first place). He came closer until he finally realized that the shiny metal object was A large, vault door. Rax had a half-decent knowledge of the vaults, but he noticed something different about this one. It was the numbers. They were there, obviously, but they were scratched and weathered to the point where the word 'disfigurement' wouldn't begin to suffice for describing how badly these words seemed to Rax. "What the hell..." Kat said, inspecting the panel next to the large entrance. She seemed to doze off for a second, before pulling the lever. The door rolled open surprisingly quickly, but not before it burned a screeching-grinding sound into the minds of the small group. Inside, another door opened automatically, it seemed. The group stood there, quietly, making sure nothing was waiting to ambush them. But, there was. A growl echoed throughout the vault. A bloodthirsy, angry, unholy growl. After a few seconds, Rax went into the vault without thinking. Kat tapped him on the shoulder, but he either ignored her, or was fixated on the thought of killing whatever sat in the vault. Bam. *** Rax was knocked head-first into the metal walls of the large underground coumpoud. A large, brutish beast had thrown him against it. It was twice the size of any mutant he'd ever seen, a hand the size of a large crate. It was, in the word's every meaning, a demon. One look, and I yelled, 'Timber, Watch out for flyin' glass!' Rax scrambled to his feet, shaking his head. Of all the things he could be feeling, could be thinking about, he had that damn song in his head. He'd just been tossed against a wall by a 10-foot beast, and all he could think about was the song. As he struggled to stand up straight, he took another hit to the face from the already-bloodied claw of the creature. 'Cause the ceiling fell in, and the bottom fell out I went into a spin and I started to shout I've been hit! This is it! This is it! Rax fell to the floor. Blood seeped from his temple, onto the cold, steel floor of the vault. So much for looking for a home. He was half-dead, and he hadn't even started searching yet. *** "What... Where..." Rax said. Rax found himself with his hands tied up behind his back. He looked around. His eyes changed locations, from the legion soldier, sharpening his machete, to the NCR uniform he had on. He pulled a combat knife from behind his back, and began cutting away at the rope. He heard a snap, and sighed with relief. He began cutting again, the rope splitting fully. Though he was free, he kept his hands behind his back, so he wouldn't attract any attention. He waited for about an hour, when the legion soldier began approaching him. He was short, and his helmet was large, with feather-like objects protruding from the top. He had large, metal armor, which looked extemely heavy, especially the large, iron pauldron that sat on his right shoulder. The pauldron gave it away. It was a centurion. The soldier muttered something in Latin, snickered, and held the blade up to Rax's neck. Rax knocked the blade out of his hands, slitting the centurion's wrists. He punched him soon afterwards, sending an unconscious legion warrior to the ground. The last few seconds of this were a blur for Rax. He saw the faint silhouettes of two legion troopers coming in, kneeling down to their dying ally. "Dammit! He's not going to make it!" One of them said. *** "He's not going to make it! Stella! Hand me those stimpaks... Shit!" Kat yelled. It was... Sort of a dream. Rax didn't know what to call it. It felt familiar... Like a... A memory. Yes, that was it. He was remembering something. He opened his eyes to find Kat and Stella, peering over him. He couldn't move until he felt a sharp prick in his arm. Then his legs. Then his other arm. "What... What happened?" Rax said. "You did some crazy shit back there..." Kat said. "You took a deathclaw out." TheOddyssey Category:Novels